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lector ... Legionnaire disease
lector
in Christianity, a person chosen or set apart to read Holy Scripture in the church services. In the Eastern Orthodox churches lector is one of the minor orders in preparation ...
Led Zeppelin
British rock band that was extremely popular in the 1970s. Although their musical style was diverse, they came to be well known for their influence on the development of heavy ...
Leda
in Greek legend, usually believed to be the daughter of Thestius, king of Aetolia, and wife of Tyndareus, king of Lacedaemon. Some ancient writers thought she was the mother by ...
Ledebour, Georg
German socialist politician who was radicalized by the outbreak of war in 1914 and became a leader of the Berlin communist uprising of January 1919.
Lederberg, Joshua
American geneticist, pioneer in the field of bacterial genetics, who shared the 1958 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (with George W. Beadle and Edward L. Tatum) for discovering the ...
Lederman, Leon Max
American physicist who, along with Melvin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger, received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1988 for their joint research on neutrinos.
Ledoux, Claude-Nicolas
French architect who developed an eclectic and visionary architecture linked with nascent pre-Revolutionary social ideals.
Ledru-Rollin, Alexandre-Auguste
French lawyer whose radical political activity earned him a prominent position in the French Second Republic; he helped bring about universal male suffrage in France.
Ledyard, John
American adventurer and explorer who accompanied Captain James Cook on his voyage to find a Northwest Passage to the Orient (1776-79).
Lee
county, east-central South Carolina, U.S. The northern and northwestern portions lie within the sandhills of the Fall Line zone, while the remainder of the county consists of a generally flat ...
Lee Commission
body appointed by the British government in 1923 to consider the racial composition of the superior Indian public services of the government of India. The chairman was Lord Lee of ...
Lee Kuan Yew
politician and lawyer who was prime minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. During his long rule, Singapore became the most prosperous nation in Southeast Asia.
Lee Teng-hui
first Taiwan-born president of the Republic of China (Taiwan; 1988-2000).
lee wave
vertical undulation of airstreams on the lee side of a mountain. (The lee side is the side that is sheltered from the wind.) Airstreams are often deep enough to flow ...
Lee, Ann
religious leader who brought the Shaker sect from England to the American Colonies.
Lee, Arthur
diplomat who sought recognition and aid in Europe for the Continental Congress during the American Revolution.
Lee, David M.
American physicist who, with Robert C. Richardson and Douglas D. Osheroff, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1996 for their joint discovery of superfluidity in the isotope helium-3.
Lee, Gypsy Rose
American striptease artist, a witty and sophisticated entertainer who was one of the first burlesque artists to imbue a striptease with grace and style.
Lee, Harper
American writer nationally acclaimed for her one novel, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960).
Lee, Henry
American cavalry officer during the American Revolution. He was the father of Robert E. Lee and the author of the resolution passed by Congress upon the death of George Washington ...
Lee, Ivy Ledbetter
American pioneer of 20th-century public-relations methods, who persuaded various business clients to woo public opinion.
Lee, Jennie, Baroness of Asheridge
British politician, member of Parliament and of the Labour Party, known for promoting the arts as a serious government concern.
Lee, John Clifford Hodges
U.S. Army logistics officer who oversaw the buildup of American troops and supplies in Great Britain in preparation for the Normandy Invasion (1944) during World War II.
Lee, Laurie
English poet and prose writer best known for Cider with Rosie (1959), a memoir of the author's boyhood in the Cotswold countryside.
Lee, Mary Ann
one of the first American ballet dancers. Her 10-year career included the first American performance of the classic ballet Giselle (Boston, 1846).
Lee, Nathaniel
English playwright whose heroic plays were popular but marred by extravagance.
Lee, Richard Henry
American statesman.
Lee, Robert E.
Confederate general, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, the most successful of the Southern armies during the American Civil War (1861-65). In February 1865 he was given command of ...
Lee, Sammy
American diver, the first male athlete to win two Olympic gold medals in the platform event.
Lee, Spike
American filmmaker known for his uncompromising, provocative approach to controversial subject matter.
Lee, Tsung-Dao
Chinese-born American physicist who, with Chen Ning Yang, received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957 for work in discovering violations of the principle of parity conservation (the quality of ...
Lee, Vernon
English essayist and novelist who is best known for her works on aesthetics.
Lee, William
English inventor who devised the first knitting machine (1589), the only one in use for centuries. Its principle of operation remains in use.
Lee, Yuan T.
Taiwanese-American chemist who, with Dudley R. Herschbach and John C. Polanyi, received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1986 for his role in the development of chemical-reaction dynamics.
Lee-Enfield rifle
rifle adopted by the British army as its basic infantry weapon in 1902. The short, magazine-loaded Lee-Enfield (Mark I, or SMLE) superseded the longer Lee-Enfield that was first produced in ...
leech
any of about 650 species of segmented, or annelid, worms. A small sucker, which contains the mouth, is at the anterior end; a large sucker is at the posterior end. ...
Leech, John
English caricaturist notable for his contributions to Punch magazine.
leeching
the application of a living leech to the skin in order to initiate blood flow or deplete blood from a localized area of the body. Through the 19th century leeching ...
Leeds
urban area, city, and metropolitan borough, metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, historic county of Yorkshire, England. It lies along the River Aire about 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Manchester. ...
Leeds, Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of, Marquess of Carmarthen, Earl of Danby, Viscount Latimer of Danby, Viscount Osborne of Dunblane, Baron Osborne of Kiveton
English statesman who, while chief minister to King Charles II, organized the Tories in Parliament. In addition he played a key role in bringing William and Mary to the English ...
leek
(species Allium porrum), hardy, vigorous, biennial plant of the lily family (Liliaceae). Related to the onion, it has a mild, sweet, onionlike flavour. The leek is widely used in European ...
Leeuwarden
gemeente (commune) and capital, Friesland provincie, northern Netherlands. Leeuwarden lies at the junction of the Harlinger-Trek Canal and the Dokkumer Ee Canal. Originally a port on the Middelzee (reclaimed since ...
Leeuwenhoek, Antonie van
Dutch microscopist who was the first to observe bacteria and protozoa. His researches on lower animals refuted the doctrine of spontaneous generation, and his observations helped lay the foundations for ...
Leeward Islands
island group in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of western Africa, constituting one of two distritos ("districts") of Cape Verde and consisting of the following islands: Brava, Fogo, Maio, ...
Leeward Islands
an arc of West Indian islands that constitute the most westerly and northerly of the Lesser Antilles, at the northeastern end of the Caribbean Sea, between latitudes 16° and 19° ...
Lefebvre, Francois-Joseph, Duc De Dantzig
French general who was one of the 18 marshals of the empire appointed by Napoleon in May 1804.
Lefebvre, Georges
French historian noted for his studies of various aspects of the French Revolution.
Lefebvre, Marcel
ultraconservative Roman Catholic archbishop who opposed the liberalizing changes begun by the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and who was excommunicated in 1988 for consecrating new traditionalist bishops without the approval ...
Lefevre d'Etaples, Jacques
outstanding French humanist, theologian, and translator whose scholarship stimulated scriptural studies during the Protestant Reformation.
Left Communist
in Soviet history, one of a group within the Communist Party which in the first half of 1918 opposed Lenin's practical policies for preserving Communist rule in Russia. The group ...
Lefuel, Hector-Martin
French architect who completed the new Louvre in Paris, a structure that was seen as a primary symbol of Second Empire architecture in the late 19th century.
leg
limb or appendage of an animal, used to support the body, provide locomotion, and, in modified form, assist in capturing and eating prey (as in certain shellfish, spiders, and insects). ...
legacy
in law, generally a gift of property by will or testament. The term is used to denote the disposition of either personal or real property in the event of death.
legal aid
the professional legal assistance given, either at no charge or for a nominal sum, to indigent persons in need of such help. In criminal cases most countries-especially those in which ...
legal education
preparation for the practice of law.
legal ethics
principles of conduct that members of the profession are expected to observe in the practice of law. They are an outgrowth of the development of the legal profession itself.
legal fiction
a rule assuming as true something that is clearly false. A fiction is often used to get around the provisions of constitutions and legal codes that legislators are hesitant to ...
legal glossator
in the Middle Ages, any of the scholars who applied methods of interlinear or marginal annotations (glossae) and the explanation of words to the interpretation of Roman legal texts. The ...
legal maxim
a broad proposition (usually stated in a fixed Latin form), a number of which have been used by lawyers since the 17th century or earlier. Some of them can be ...
legal profession
vocation that is based on expertise in the law and in its applications. Although there are other ways of defining the profession, this simple definition may be best, despite the ...
Legal Tender Cases
(1870, 1871), two cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the power of Congress to authorize government notes not backed by specie as money that creditors had to accept ...
Legalism
school of Chinese philosophy that attained prominence during the turbulent Warring States era (475-221 BC) and, through the influence of the philosopher Han Fei, formed the ideological basis of China's ...
Legare, Hugh Swinton
U.S. lawyer, a conservative Southern intellectual who opposed the attempts of South Carolina's radicals to nullify the Tariff of 1832.
Legaspi
chartered city, southeastern Luzon, Philippines, near an inlet on Albay Gulf. Founded about 1639, it was named for Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, conquistador and first Spanish governor-general of the Philippines. ...
legate
official who acted as a deputy general to governors of provinces conquered by ancient Rome in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, during the period of the republic. In the ...
legate
in the Roman Catholic Church, a cleric sent on a mission, ecclesiastical or diplomatic, by the pope as his personal representative. Three types of legates are recognized by canon law. ...
legation
major administrative division of the Papal States ruled by a cardinal legate during the 18th and 19th centuries. In the mid-19th century, on the eve of Italian unification, there were ...
Legazpi, Miguel Lopez de
Spanish explorer who established Spain's dominion over the Philippines that lasted until the Spanish-American War of 1898.
legend
traditional story or group of stories told about a particular person or place. Formerly the term legend meant a tale about a saint. Legends resemble folktales in content; they may ...
Legendre, Adrien-Marie
French mathematician whose distinguished work on elliptic integrals provided basic analytic tools for mathematical physics.
Leger, Fernand
French painter who was deeply influenced by modern industrial technology and Cubism. He developed "machine art," a style characterized by monumental mechanistic forms rendered in bold colours.
Legg-Calve-Perthes syndrome
bone disease, a form of osteochondrosis (q.v.).
Leggett, Anthony J.
British physicist, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2003 for his seminal work on superfluidity. He shared the award with the Russian physicists Alexey A. Abrikosov and Vitaly ...
legion
a military organization, originally the largest permanent organization in the armies of ancient Rome. The term legion also denotes the military system by which imperial Rome conquered and ruled the ...
Legion of Honour
premier order of the French republic, created by Napoleon Bonaparte, then first consul, on May 19, 1802, as a general military and civil order of merit conferred without regard to ...
Legionnaire disease
form of pneumonia caused by the bacillus Legionella pneumophila. The name of the disease (and of the bacterium) derives from a 1976 state convention of the American ...